An internal Department of Justice investigation showed that there were no undercover FBI agents in the crowd on January 6, thereby disproving a MAGA conspiracy theory. Of course, JD Vance had a different take.
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Vice President-elect JD Vance seems to have a problem with the FBI infiltrating dangerous groups of domestic extremists like the Proud Boys… you know, the kind of people who would participate in an insurrection.
At least that’s what it sounds like based on his reaction to a highly anticipated report from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on whether FBI agents participated in the deadly attack on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.
They did not.
“We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6,” said the office of the DOJ IG Michael Horowitz in a statement.
That’s the key finding of this probe, because various MAGA conspiracy theorists had claimed that undercover FBI agents were complicit in the attack and that they, not Trump, had riled up the insurrectionists.
However, the document notes that there were a total of 26 confidential human sources (CHS) who attended events related to the insurrection. But they weren’t there for fun.
“The OIG determined that three of those CHSs had been tasked by FBI field offices to report on specific domestic terrorism case subjects who were possibly attending the events of January 6,” the OIG statement said. “One of these three CHSs entered the Capitol during the riot. The other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol.”
Here is what that means: In order to keep an eye on domestic terrorist groups, the FBI either uses these sources to infiltrate extremist organizations like the Proud Boys or the Three Percenters, or recruits current members, e.g., in return for immunity.
That allows law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on groups that are planning to commit violence against the US or Americans.
In other words, it’s a good thing.
And, since that is dangerous work, you can’t exactly sit out a major event, like the storming of the Capitol, without drawing attention to yourself.
Proud Boy leader: “Hey, Steve, do you want to hang Mike Pence and then do a coup?”
CHS: “Gee, I don’t know. I was going to go to Orange Julius in Union Station and have a smoothie. But thanks for thinking of me.”
That’s not how it works.
In addition to the three sources specifically tasked with keeping an eye on suspected terrorists, there were another 23 CHSs who attended on their own initiative. Of those, three entered the Capitol during the insurrection, and 11 entered a restricted area around the building.
Of course, a bunch of MAGA types somehow spun the findings as though they confirmed their conspiracy theories that the FBI was behind the entire thing.
Such as this clown, who worked as deputy rapid response director for Trump’s campaign.
https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1867270129979113514
Again, all this shows is that the FBI has sources in radical groups, which isn’t a bad thing, and directed a total of three people to be in DC on January 6 to keep an eye on suspected terrorists.
And yet, Vance somehow also felt that this report vindicates MAGA conspiracy theorists.
“For those keeping score at home, this was labeled a dangerous conspiracy theory months ago,” he stated in response to Price’s tweet.
Well, we got some news Vance may not like: After the OIG’s investigation and release of the report, it still is a conspiracy theory that the FBI played a role in sparking the insurrection (and neither did Antifa or the Easter Bunny)… it was just Trump and his Big Lie.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
